The terrain is steep. The a/c remains are scattered across a wide area, as it broke up in mid-air. Entire area is heavily forested with very tall trees, making a long-line helo recovery the only option. VERY expensive. Fuel cost alone on a Boeing 234 (Chinook) is $3000 an hour. It's about a half-day's hike in, as I recall. I believe Mr. Gary Larkins (who has recovered at least 70 WWII a/c in places like Myanmar, PNG, & Greenland) lives in northern CA. If he hasn't done it already, it's probably not worh doing. Another issue might be that the site is in a CA State Rec Area, which comes with its own set of legal barriers. You can't take ANYTHING (not a rock, not a leaf, definitely no man-made objects) out of one. And NO METAL DETECTORS!
For those of you who aren't familiar with the Sierra-Nevada Mts., they are very rugged and remote, despite their proximity to major population centers. Dense forest, deep ravines, exposed granite beds, virtually no water, and hot dry days make it difficult to travel through. This is a/c is very close to the Desolation Wilderness area, where the Donner party met their fate.
Last edited by
Tomahawk on Sun Sep 28, 2014 12:59 am, edited 1 time in total.